Toy in form of an animal.



No. 898,018. PATENTBD SEPT. 8, 190a.

. F. STEIFF.

TOY IN FORM OF AN ANIMAL.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 7, 19.08.

FRANZ STEIFF, OF GIENGEN, GERMANY.

TOY IN FORM OF AN ANIMAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 8, 1908.

Application filed February 7, 1908. Serial No. 414,786.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANZ STEIFF, a subj ect of the King of WVurtemberg, residing at Giengen-on-the-Brenz, in the Kingdom of \Vurtemberg, Germany, have invented a new and useful Toy in Form of an Animal.

This invention relates to a toy in form of a suitable animal having articulating ears, and the invention is especially designed for use in connection with toy-animals in the body of which the filling or stuffing is of soft qual ity and inclosed in a cloth or fabric cover.

Further it is the object of the present invention to provide a construction which is inexpensive in first cost and simple and which will permit requisite freedom of movement of the articulated ears of the animal and also permit of renewal of such portions when the same become broken or worn out.

The invention will be more fullyexplained in connection with the accompanying drawing and will be more particularly pointed out and ascertained in and by the appended claims.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a side-view of the head of the animal. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the head of the animal showing my improved means for articulating the ears thereto. Fig. 3 is a detached detail of a portion of the articulating means. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Like characters of reference designate simi lar parts throughout different figures of the drawing.

Referring to the specific embodiment shown 1 designates a portion of the head of a play-animal which is formed of a suitable softfilling or stuffing 2 and a flexible or fabric cover 3. The cover is provided with an opening 4 located adjacent that portion of the head to which the ear is adapted to be attached and said opening is conveniently provided with a suitable form of bushing 5 to take up wear and protect the covering adj acent said opening. It will be understood that this bushing does not constitute an essential feature of this invention as it may be readily dispensed with, and the invention may be fully realized Without it in the cheaper constructions.

An ear is shown, designated at 6, and is provided with a projection adapted to be inserted through the opening 4, or through the bushing 5 if the latter is used, and said proj ection at 7 is approximately equal in size to the opening formed in the bushing 5 while at the outer end 8 said projection is relatively enlarged with respect to its base 7 and the opening in the bushing 5. It will be readily seen that by inserting the projection just described, through the bushing 5, the requisite freedom of movement of the ear will be permitted and the enlarged portion 8 will prevent the ear from becoming detached from the head of the animal. It will be further noted that should the user for any reason desire to detach the ear it will merely require the exertion of a slight pull upon the ear outwardly to draw the enlarged portion 8 through the bushing 5. The projection on the ear will preferably be formed of yielding material to permit ready assembling of parts.

In some embodiments of the invention it may be desirable to provide retaining means for the jointed sections or portions and one embodiment of such means is indicated at 9 and is in the form of a washer as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Said washer 9 is provided with an opening 10 through which the projection may be inserted as illustrated in Fig. 2. Preferably said opening 10 is formed of about the same size as the part 7 of saidprojection and in a manner to fit relatively snugly thereon. The enlarged portion 8 of the projection will, as shown in Fig. 2, prevent accidental withdrawal of the ear from the head. If desired the washer 9 may be provided with portions adapted to engage the projection and in the embodiment shown such portions are formed integral with the washer 9 by slitting the margin of the opening 10 to form teeth and bending the teeth outwardly in one direction. It willbe readily seen that when the parts are assembled as shown in Fig. 2 the enlarged portion 8 of the projection will be engaged by the teeth and the arrangement described will provide a simple and effective means for securing the parts in the assembled relation, the washer 9 engaging the bushing 5.

I claim:

1. A toy animal comprising in combination, two portions each composed of yielding material, one of said portions having an opening and the other of said portions having a projection, said projection having a portion substantially equal in size with respect to said opening and a terminal or end slightly larger than said opening and serving to retain said portions in articulated relation and permit disconnection thereof.

2. A toy-animal comprising in combination two portions, one of said portions having an opening and the other of said portions having a projection, said projection having a portion substantially equal in size with respect to said opening and an end formed of yielding material slightly larger than said opening, and retaining means associated with said rojection and the first mentioned portion or retaining the parts in assembled relation.

3. A toy-animal comprising in combination two portions, one of said portions having an opening and the other of said portions having a projection, said projection having a base portion substantially equal in size with respect to said opening and an end formed of yielding material and slightly larger than said opening, and retaining means consisting of a washer provided with portions engaging said projection for maintaining parts in the assembled relation when said projection is inserted through said open- 111g.

spect to said opening and a yielding terminal 30 or end slightly larger than said opening and serving to retain said portions in articulated relation and permit disconnection thereof.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presenceof two witnesses.

FRANZ STEIFF.

Witnesses:

ERNEST ENTENMANN, Y MARY A. HreerNs.

4. A toy animal comprising in combina- 25 

